Will you marry me?
by SamMellark
Summary: One shot of how Peeta proposed to Katniss.


**One shot, bam.**

**Disclaimer : I don't own the Hunger Games trilogy.**

**Description : One shot on how Peeta proposed to Katniss.**

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Katniss Everdeen woke up on a sunday morning in her large house in Victors Village and wandered down the stairs to the kitchen. She slips on her hunting boots and grabs a cheese bun that Peeta Mellark left for her, clearly knowing they were her favourite. She stuck the roll in her mouth and pulled on her leather hunting jacket, quickly grabbing her game back, and walking out the front door into the brisk October air.

She walked along the pathway from Victors Village to the newly rebuilt town, after the rebellion, not much was left, but everyone worked together and the town was as good as new.

As she neared the town she could smell the delightful smell of fresh bread being baked at Peeta's bakery. After his family was killed and District 12 was cleared to live in, baking was the only thing that could calm Peeta when he would have attacks. See, during the rebellion, Peeta's memory was hijacked to hate Katniss, but the minute he would mix ingredients in a bowl, he remembered who he was.

Katniss quickly finished eating the cheese bun and flipped her long black braid over her shoulder, she walked up the wooden steps to the bakery and when she opened the door, the bell dingled.

The blonde baker came out from the back and once seeing her, he smiled. Katniss's heart melted, as it always did when she saw him. It took her a couple of years to realize it, but she loved Peeta, from the very moment he confessed his love for her during their first games together.

He wiped his hands on his white apron and hopped over the counter, pulling her into his arms. She breathed in the sent of ginger and cinnamon, just another one thing she loved about him.

"Well hello there." He said as he pulled away from her. What was going on between them.. well it was complicated. For a while she seemed hopeless that they would ever be together, but here they are, together. They weren't like a normal couple who would hold hands and kiss each other in public, they felt that they didn't need to do any of that stuff.

Everyone in District 12, knew that they were together, I mean, how could they not be, after everything they've been through together, it would be hard to not love one another, almost like they were each other, being one.

"Hi." She smiled lightly at the baker.

"So tonight, I was wondering, if you would like to come to my house for a little dinner?" He asked with a dazzling smile, how could she refuse?

"Of course, what time?" She asked.

"Around six, would be good." He hopped back over the counter and she walked up to the counter, resting her elbows on it. "Going hunting?" He asks.

"Yes, hopefully, I can get my mind of everything." She nods. Ever since the rebellion, her little sister being killed by a bomb that her old best friend Gale Hawthorn may or may not have created, and seeing her fellow soldier, friend Finnick Odair, being ripped apart by muttations created by the Capitol to kill her, she had a lot of things on her mind. Much to many for a person to handle on their own.

"Have you talked to Haymitch lately?" Peeta asked her and she nodded, Haymitch Abernathy, was their drunk mentor during the two times they had to go into the games, after the rebellion, he just went back to being old drunk Haymitch.

"I visited him and his geese last night." She says admiring the cakes on the front window. The cakes designed for marriage. Katniss swore she would never have a family because the thought of her children being sent into the Hunger Games, just terrified her, but now it was all over, and only the Capitol children could be sent to the games. Almost like as how the Hunger Games were a reminder to the twelve Districts that the Capitol runs them, it was a reminder to the Capitol that people will rebel against something wrong.

"Well you should probably get hunting." He walks over to her kissing her lips quickly and smiling, she nods and zips up her coat. "See you in a few." He smiles and she waves exiting the baker.

She made it to the fence, but instead of having to sneak under it like she used to when the Capitol reigned, there was a gate. The fence laid there to protect the District of any wild animals that could harm any citizen but you were allowed to leave to hunt.

She walked briskly to the place where she stashed her bow and arrows and she slung her quiver over her shoulder. She walked for a couple of hours not really looking for anything but she made it to the lake where her father took her too when she was just a little girl.

By the age of eighteen Katniss had over come two Hunger Games, and defeated the country of Panem's government. It was safe to say that by her twentieth birthday, which was only just in May, she understood a lot of things others couldn't. Like baking for Peeta, hunting was Katniss's way to try and forget the horrors that haunt her every night in her dreams, of the brutal death of her fellow tribute Cato, in the first games, or the death of her friend and stylist Cinna, from her second games to the faces of Prim and Finnick before they were both murdered during the war. Every night she would wake up screaming and crying, that is only if Peeta wasn't there to hold her.

After a couple hours the sky began to darken, signalling it was time for her to get back to District twelve, she managed to bag a couple of squirrels and a wild turkey in which she would sell to Greasy Sae, the elder woman who worked at the Hob, making soup for the people who were less fortunate. Katniss even though being extremely wealthy still preferred her soup over any soup that could come from the Capitol, except for the Lamb and rice stew, it was her favourite.

She walked back through the gate and past the town center where little children were playing with each other in the leaves, throwing them at each other and jumping into piles of them. She smiled as she saw a face she remembered laughing with their little sister. Vick Hawthorn had picked up his little sister Posy and gently tossed her into a pile of leaves which she squealed with delight. Vick caught her eye and waved to her and she waved back smiling at the two youngest Hawthorns.

She walked past the bakery that now had a closed sign on the door and quickly into Victors Village, she opened her door briskly and tossed her game back on the floor. She walked up the stares lightly and walked into the bathroom that connected to her room. She stripped of her hunting clothes and turned on the shower, she quickly washed herself and then hopped out. She wiped the condensation on the mirror and looked long and hard at herself.

Now because she didn't have the Capitols help, you could see the imperfections on her face, scars from her games and the war. She shook her head and walked out to her closet. Her stylist Cinna, had a bunch of clothing planned for her, that her prep team, finished making and shipped to her. She opened the closet and pulled out a pair of black pants and a nice sunset orange shirt, it was Peeta's favourite colour.

She decided to leave her hair down and dry naturally into deep dark waves that fell on her shoulders. She grabbed her black coat and walked across the front lawn into Peeta's house. She knocked lightly on the door, and the flushed face of the baker opened the door.

"Katniss come in!" He pulled her in and she smiled, his house was decorated nicely, with orange and almost brown colours, it was warm and welcoming. "Dinner is jut ready now." He helped her out of her coat and placed it on the railing to the stairs, he took her hand and led her to the kitchen.

The plain wooden table was covered in a white cloth with candles in the center, two plates sat across from each other and a bottle of wine sat there.

"Oh Peeta it looks lovely." She said and sits down in a chair. He places the food and sat down serving them.

Dinner went by quickly and with little conversation, only small, "How was your day?" or "Have you tried Sae's new soup?". That was the thing with Peeta, they didn't need to talk as much.

"I accidentally burnt some bread in the bakery today, I brought it home for us, you don't mind do you?" He asks and she shakes her head. Like when she was eleven, he saved her life with the burnt bread. He places the loaf on her plate in front of her and stared at her.

"Well go on break it open." He says and she stares at him, what is he doing? She picks up the bread thats still warm and tears it in half and then she heard something dropping on her plate. She looks up at Peeta, who is grinning from the other side of the table. She puts the bread down and picks up what fell on her plate.

A ring.

It was gold with a pearl on the top, the pearl he had given her during the Quarter Quell. She admired the ring and turned it other on the inside it had. 'Always' engraved in it. Peeta got up and took the ring out of her hand and knelt down beside her on one knee. She gasped and looked down at him.

"Katniss Everdeen, from the moment you sang during the music assembly I knew one day, I had to marry you. When I saw you, looking so pale and wasted when we were eleven I purposely burnt the bread, maybe you didn't know me then at all but I couldn't let you die. My mother beat me that night and all I could think of was 'Good, at least Katniss is alive and healthy'. When we were both reaped for the Hunger Games I thought for sure that I was never going to get the chance to marry you, but then we did it, we outsmarted the Capitol, together. Then we were forced to get married, I couldn't help but feel happy that I finally got to marry you, but it was only because of the Capitol, and that felt wrong." By now Katniss had pushed back her chair and stood facing the baker, tears pricked her eyes. " I knew you didn't love me, well maybe you did, but it wasn't right to be forced into marriage, then the quell, and I knew that was it, but still we managed to outsmart the Capitol and escape."

"Peeta." His name was just a faint whisper on her lips.

"No, I'm not done yet." His own pale blue eyes filled with moisture. "I know I left you during the rebellion for a while, I wasn't me. I was who the Capitol made me and I didn't like it, but I couldn't do anything to stop it. It was hard and painful because I knew I still loved you, just my body would react in a different way, but you didn't give up on me. You helped me through it, that's what people in love do, help each other through their darkest hours." Katniss had tears rolling down her face now and she pressed her hands to her mouth. "Katniss Everdeen, I know I am not a perfect man anymore, I'm broken at the Capitol's expense, I still have attacks but you always bring me out of them, you complete me, you have always been and always will be the only woman I could ever love as much. Katniss, will you marry me? Forever bring me out of darkness?" A single tear rolled down the bakers face as he held the ring to her hand.

A million reasons to say no flew through her head, but one stuck out to say yes. That one thought was she loved this man more then anything.

"Of course Peeta." She chokes out and he grins placing the ring on her finger, he stood up and pulled her into a hug, spinning her around. She half laughed half cried but she was happy and she knew it.

She was going to spend the rest of her life with this man, and she couldn't wait.


End file.
